Humboldt Justice: Man Arrested With Pound of Heroin Failed to Show in Court

John Chiv covers the local legal system for his blog. He’ll be sharing his observations on some of the more high profile trials with us in our new Humboldt Justice guest column.

Gilberto Giron-Ramirez

On Tuesday, September 1, two men were arrested in Fortuna by the Eureka Police Department for multiple charges including possession heroin for sale. Over one pound of the drug was seized. Two grams of meth and a large amount of cash were found also. Both were released on their own recognizance.

Many in the community expressed outrage. One commenter on this blog, Jack Straw wrote, “Wow! Heroin traffickers released on own recognizance?! With over 1 pound seized?!…We seem to have a serious systemic malfunction over at the courthouse! Somebody call the networks- I believe this should be national news.”

Another, Uti, said, “WHAT!!! 1.1 pounds of heroin seized and booked and released? Shall we start a betting pool on whether the two guys show up for court?”

Yesterday, one suspect was arraigned (a defendant and his or her attorney appears in court to be formally given the charges against them and they make a plea of not guilty or guilty.)

John Chiv, courtroom watcher and local blogger, was there to follow the legal proceedings. Chiv writes,

John Chiv

….Gilberto Giron-Ramirez was arraigned in Courtroom 5.

Released on OR (Own Recognizance) after his arrest, he failed to show up for court. A bench warrant was requested by Deputy District Attorney Jackie Pizzo and issued by Visiting Judge David Flinn.

No charges have been filed against Pedro Sierra-Pozos who was arrested the same day.

A bench warrant is issued by a judge in these cases to allow law enforcement to arrest a defendant who has broken a court rule (often, as in this case, they have failed to appear.)

35 comments

I don’t understand how a pound of smack doesn’t keep you in jail!!my good god have you ever seen a pound of that shit,it’s fugly and stinks I’m just amazed he got out what the hell is wrong with this county

Cristal for $300/ 25 gms.no one knows price of uncut, impure mexican tar. I imagine it also has spectacular price.these prices have created colateral business that is bigger than addiction as it crosses to insurance,pawnshops,russian children trafficed,theft, locally, contracted poisonings. White mafias. Etc.postoffice involvement with distributing. Like a flea behind binladens ear is black and white cigarette and pot.

NO! I have never seen a pound of Heroin. You have? Where do you hang out? lol How many folks out there have? I only saw a trace amount one time, 25+ years ago. And I have been around. Maybe I am just out of touch. Is there pounds of heroin floating around out there? Maybe this is why they let these guys go. It just so common….

I thought I read the other guy who did show had all the charges dropped…I’d say there’s some shady stuff going on Within the courts, sheriff office, and fortuna pd who made the original arrests…so lesson is, it’s OK to get people hooked on heroin…but all the weed growers are so bad there’s an entire task force just for them…

Never did I consider proposition 47 to be a vehicle for, basically, legalizing heroin. I think what might be happening is cop retaliation for prop 47 being approved by “people like me.” The neener-neener response. af

Is a pound of heroin what they use for personal consumption?
Maybe he has a script for it and that’s why they dropped the charges on the other guy?
Also, if he’s from Mexico, does not being an American National place him out of the legal system’s reach?
If all the charges are dropped, can they sue for return of their heroin?

How long has heroin been legal? I didn’t think it was, but I guess it is.

so… when is enough enough? I’ve had enough, but I am far too busy to make a career out of pursuing the very obvious problem of lack of law enforcement? I pretty sure that the street cops are trying, otherwise why are all these people being arrested. It must be incredibly frustrating for the cops to arrest someone and then see the (numerous expletives deleted) back on the street the next day?

I’m hoping that someone will make a list of all of the people that were let out of jail too soon and send it, with a list of Redheads posting about them to the news. I agree that the national news should hear about what is going on in Humboldt county. It’s obvious the local news does no good. We are far too liberal about crime here. I have a lot of liberal leanings myself, but not about crime. As I said, “enough is enough” I also think that a good place to start is Bill O’Riley At Fox News.

Gary Bullock would be a good starting point. He would have been able to be helped if they hadn’t pushed him out on the street in the middle of the night totally wacked out of his mind.

Or would you rather see your kids grow up in the middle of a heroin epidemic? My kid is raised and gone, Thank God!

This problem is in no way exclusive to Humboldt. Illegal aliens are being released from jails all over the country, many of them for vilant felonies such as rape and murder. Over a third of our prison population are in this country illegally.

If they are illegal, they seem to be given a free ride and flee back to Mexico and come back with a new name for new crimes. It is the biggest crime of all for the laws to be not applied because they broke them while illegally entering the country and now they have special status. It is a broken un-justice system for people legally in the country having to deal with illegals and their crime waves.

I agree with you, however did you know the mogority of illegals are now Chinese and Muslim (refugees) in fact the fastest growing language in the U.S. is now Arabic. And these (fefugees) are subject to no background checks and are coming from regains with the highest level of Islamic terrorist activity.

It’s a meth demic ,and heroin demic zombie apocalypse , no good court system poor to lack of proactive police ING . Which these days is piss poor , and I fear that it’s only going to get worse the labs the mainstream dope dealers.when is the last time we here about a big heroin bust oh wait a min they just let them go ,so with that said cut the head off the snake ,but no they just bust the users like neil kemp really! !!!!

Both Concerned Neighbor and Cody are incorrect. The arresting PD was Eureka. I think it’s great that EPD went down to Fortuna to nail these guys. It’s the court system and the laws governing the courts that allow “non violent arrestees” to be released. I was as outraged as everyone else.

If Obama had a son , They are letting the illegals into this country at a record pace, they have to bring some items with them to trade, other wise they will have to go on food stamps. We should be thankful they are bringing in narcos, what Anglo would take on that job. Oh no, the Anglos think they are too good for that. So it comes down to the Mexican do the dirty work. After all… This makes as much sense as Obama getting the Peace Prize while he had an active Drone Kill List.

Thanks to your type of useful pawn a black man was elected President TWICE IN A ROW. Without a party of STUPID Repbulicans no black ever gets elected President…EVER! So I thank you for being such a useful pawn for the rich and stupid.

I’m sure who ever spent hours and hours on their arrest is as sick to their stomachs as the once jones-in junkies they provided w smack. I’m just surprised there is so much disconnect between the jails and the club that arrested them that they were let go. Can anyone assure us that this major loop hole has been closed? Or are we just to expect this type of failure to occur repeatedly.
The amount of time spent on small victimless crimes vs. major players like these guys is obsurd.
Just goes to show that the big boys will pay no taxes and do no time.